The Bream Bedroom

Setting the tone to this decidedly French and luxuriously inviting room is a Louise XV-style chaise long with cabriole legs in old white paint and a Louise XV-style Bergere with a curved arched padded back, molded frame and cabriole legs. To the left of the bed is a French tulip wood bijouterie cabinet with a marquetry decorated lift top opening to a mirrored interior, c. 1880, and to the right is a French fruitwood one drawer stand with cabriole legs, c. 1870.  A gilt and white paint convex mirror hangs over the fireplace.  A salmon lobed vase decorated with white figures is mounted as a tabletop lamp.  Hanging over the desk is an 18^th Century carved figural plaque of a sea creature with a later clipped corner frame faux painted in a complementary manner.  There is a mid 19^th Century bronze bas  relief roundel of a woman in profile in a gilt frame and  a pair of 19^th Century French prints in rectangular frames which give the room depth and a sense of collected artifacts.

Family Vacation

In the Berkshires, we are enjoying warm summer weather this week and the garden is growing tall.  A full schedule of weddings and family events is ahead of us.  The busy summer season, which started in early May for us, always tends to go by fast.

Many of our guests have already inquired about repeat visits.  Though the estate is almost completely booked this year already, there are a few weekends still left.  Labor Day weekend is one of them and with the Tanglewood Wine and Food Classic September 1-4, and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, it will be a great time to be in Lenox.  The Winthrop Estate is just about a mile from Tanglewood’s main gate and the Jazz Festival and the Wine and Food Classic are real treats, (if you like good jazz, wine and food)!

Labor Day weekend is a nice time to gather the family in Lenox, just before school starts for the young ones and as the trees are starting to turn.  There are so many things to do at that time if you want to venture off property; see a Shakespeare & Company production, visit the Mount or Chesterwood, enjoy a lazy day and a hike in Kennedy Park just a few minutes from the Winthrop Estate, or take the kids out for a sweet at Patisserie Lenox.  There’s plenty to do in this area. Here are more ideas for family fun in the Berkshires.

Photo credit to John Fitzpatrick of MomentsKept.com.

Lettuce from the Winthrop Estate Garden (photo from the summer of 2010)

Last summer when I was sitting on the verandah, savoring a Winthrop Estate salad that was picked moments earlier, I felt like I knew what heaven must be like.  I fell in love with that bite as it was such an intense, fully engaged, ‘all-senses on’ experience.  I can hardly wait for the harvest!

A farmer?  I never thought I’d be a farmer.  But, based on our bountiful harvest the last two years and our unbounded enthusiasm for organic, locally grown, high quality vegetables, and the fact that my kids eat them right off ‘the vine’, we have expanded the Winthrop Estate farm this year.  We added more space for beds and completed the cultivation in late May, and we are now a small CSA with a handful of lucky, near by families and one restaurant as members (the shares sold out within a few phone calls).

We have planted tomatoes, beans, peppers, lettuces, carrots, corn, parsley, basil, and more…  (the full list can be seen in this <Winthrop Estate’s Organic Farm> post) and just last week we completed the beds with some plants from Left Field Farm.  Within a few weeks we will be ready to harvest the new crops.  We already have plenty of chives, scallions (quite strong and flavorful), spearmint and chocolate mint, and all have wonderfully intense flavors unlike we find in most grocery stores. We distribute the produce each week to the participating farm members, the guests of the Winthrop Estate, and a wonderful local restaurant, Nudel.

Because I love the organic fresh vegetables, in addition to being an enthusiastic farmer, I am a fan of the farmer’s markets and CSAs and am always looking for places to eat locally-grown, organic produce.  I am so pleased that there are many opportunities to get Berkshire produce at local restaurants and stores. See the Berkshire Grown site for more information on the farm to table week they have created in early June.

Just Arrived

Watch our new family photo montage: click here.

Winthrop Estate Fountain, photo by Kevin Sprague

The weather in Lenox has been glorious this week.  The summer-like days bring warming sun to the daffodils and trees and they are blooming everywhere.  We uncovered our fountain, taking off the heavy winter tent, and we are into spring cleaning on the grounds, and getting tan too. We are looking forward to the families who will be coming for their vacations or special occasions this season and have been busy on email, being in touch with the guests to answer questions, and make plans and reservations.  Spring time brings a flurry of activity from everyone thinking about the summer.    Happy Spring!

The mark of a great respite, be it a week or weekend, is the sense of renewal you achieve. The Winthrop Estate is a place you will recharge your life batteries, rediscover your love for each other; it’s a place where you can suspend judgment and live in a dreamy state without interruption, where the most that is asked of you is to choose which entertainment you wish to enjoy.  Here you are not itinerant tourists, but pampered guests of the mansion.  Imagine having no interruptions, tasks, dishes, or lists– just the joy of vacation.

A Weekend with Friends, A Laugh, Some Music

Driving from NYC up to Winthrop Estate is a treat.  Once I leave the city traffic behind, I turn on the music and start to relax.  The journey becomes part of the destination. I drive alongside wide rivers, rushing streams, lush hillsides and farms. The trip itself is candy for the eyes. I revel in the journey.  The rewards of the weekend retreat with my friends are plentiful.  And Lenox, with all its history and luxuries, awaits me every time.  The Winthrop Estate rooms are exquisitely decorated and the public spaces are inviting. I treasure my retreat at the Winthrop Estate and look forward to next year’s.

Skiing in the Berkshires

Imagine the possibilities…after a day of skiing at one of the local ski resorts such as Butternut, Catamount or Jiminey Peak, you are mesmerized by the Berkshires beautiful mountain scenery.  You experience the excitement that comes with shushing down the mountainside with the snap of brisk air-  its a dream ski day.

After the invigorating day outdoors, there’s nothing more luxurious and inviting then returning to the Winthrop Estate where you options include slipping away into the sanctuary of a warm bath with candles softly glowing, a glass of your favorite wine and classical music in the background, a good book by the library fire and hot chocolate, a massage scheduled for eight o’clock to soothe your muscles– an hour of bliss.

A winter weekend at the Winthrop Estate, enjoying friends and family, is a magical, wonderful getaway… .you’ll remember it always.

The Christmas Tree at the Winthrop Estate

The whole family, all 24 of them, gathered in Lenox at the Winthrop Estate a few days before Christmas.  They brought bags of gifts for the kids and home-made cookies to share.  They made the estate their home for the holiday.  They sang Christmas carols, they enjoyed meals (that they didn’t have to cook or clean up after, as the estate took care of that), they stayed up late talking after the little ones went to bed upstairs.  The kids went sledding on the great lawn, and got dizzy on the tree swing, then came in for hot chocolate.  Most everyone enjoyed an afternoon nap, whether it was in their beds or a leather chair by the fire in the library after reading a book.  The Winthrop Estate is a magical place for families to enjoy each other over the holidays.

Library at the Winthrop Estate

On every weekend the estate is used, whether it’s a destination wedding, a family vacation, a retreat or a concert, people find their way to the Library, which is just off the foyer, to play board games, read by the fire, or enjoy a conversation.  Sometimes they listen to the tube-amplified MacIntosh radio with AudioResearch amps on AudioPhysic speakers, sitting in the soft leather chairs and sometimes they just watch their child enjoy himself.  Photo by Konrad Brattke